Unlock Your Potential: The Magic of Daily Self-Improvement

We all have the potential to do great, positive things with our lives.  That is true for every person on this planet.  In fact, your issue in life won’t be that you weren’t endowed with the potential to succeed.  Rather, your issue will be that you failed to unlock that potential. 

One of the main reasons why we fail to unlock our potential is that we fritter away our time.  For instance, many people waste their time watching television or YouTube.  The problem is that they could have spent that time on self-improvement or accomplishing their goals. But instead, they wasted their time watching other people accomplish things on their screens.

The other challenge is that we don’t keep our eyes on our goals.  Rather, we spend our time worrying about what other people are doing.  We may spend hours being irritated because someone behaved rudely. Or, we may be annoyed that our colleague got a promotion that we think we deserved. We may feel insecure worrying that our peers have better lives than we do. We waste a lot of time thinking about what other people are up to.

But if you want to unlock your potential, you have to focus on yourself. And you have to be careful about how you spend your time.  In fact, as you go through the day, you constantly should be asking yourself the following question: “Is what I’m doing right now moving me toward my goals?”  If it isn’t, then stop doing it! 

That’s why daily self-improvement is so effective.  When you commit to daily self-improvement, you commit to spending your time doing only those things that will move you toward the life that you truly want. 

Below are daily self-improvement habits that will help you to unlock your full potential.  Get rid of your distractions and start spending your days working to become the best you possible! 

Exercise Every Day

Your physical health is the foundation of your life.  By that I mean that if your health is solid, then you have the foundation upon which to build a great life.  After all, when we are physically healthy, we have the energy to accomplish things.  Moreover, when we are physically fit, we feel good about our appearance, and we’re able to go out into the world with confidence. 

So, if you are blessed with a body that is able to exercise, you should be exercising every day.  Exercise accomplishes three important things. 

First, it keeps us from gaining excess weight.  Excess weight is problematic because it can lead to heart disease, strokes, and diabetes, and it strains your joints and cartilage. 

Second, exercise just makes us happier.  When we exercise, we increase our bodies’ production of endorphins, a chemical produces positive feelings.  In fact, regular exercise has been shown to ward off anxiety and feelings of depression. 

Third, exercise just helps you live longer!  After all, exercising makes your body stronger.  And with a strong body, you are less susceptible to certain illnesses that are related to premature mortality.  So, daily exercise is truly a “magic” way to have a better, longer life.

But the problem for so many of us is this:  How do we motivate ourselves to incorporate exercise into our daily routine? 

The only successful way to make exercise a part of your daily life is to make your body your hobby.  Realize that most of us go through life ignoring our bodies.  As long as we aren’t sick, and our bodies are roughly doing what they are supposed to do, we don’t give them much thought!

But when we make our bodies our hobby, that changes how we operate.  Suddenly, exercise becomes fun.  So, we want to lift weights to gain some definition in our arms.  Or, we may want to walk up the stairs at work to improve the muscle tone in our legs. 

The key is to view your body as your project.  And frankly, that’s what it is!  Caring for your body is the most important project that you’ve been given in life. So, do a good job of it!

By having a daily exercise routine, you’ll feel energized and strong. And it’s from there that you can unlock your potential to live your best life.

Have a Daily Meditation Practice

Meditation is a funny word.  It triggers all kinds of reactions in people.  Some folks think that meditation is only for Buddhists.  Others think that meditation can only be done sitting on the floor in the lotus position. 

But realize that meditation is simply a practice in which you spend some time quieting your mind.  To meditate effectively, you need to shut off all your screens.  And then you need to sit or walk quietly and simply be fully present in the moment.

That’s hard for a lot of people.   Most folks don’t like meditation because they’re trying to avoid themselves.  They’re trying to avoid their thoughts and their worries.  So, they seek the distractions of the television and the Internet.  That way they can go through life avoiding their own thoughts.

But if you truly want to fulfill your potential in life, you can’t avoid yourself.  Instead, you have to really get to know yourself.  And that requires you to cut out the distractions and take some time each day to be in a quiet state.  It’s from that state that you can discover yourself. 

During meditation, epiphanies happen.  By simply being quiet and observing your thoughts, you can learn all kinds of things about yourself.  You’ll learn about what you really like to do with your time.  And you may discover some of the less pleasant aspects of your personality.  You may also figure out what your dreams are for the future.  And what your fears are about the future.

Through daily meditation, you can achieve those epiphanies.  And it’s from that place that you can set a path to achieve your highest potential.

Develop A Daily Reading Habit

There’s an allure to things that are visual, like the television or YouTube.  And admittedly, things that are oral, like podcasts or the radio, are equally attractive.  After all, when we either watch or listen to something, it’s relaxing.  And to be fair, not all of what we watch or listen to is nonsense.  In fact, there’s a lot of terrific, educational content out there in those formats.

But if you really want to give your brain a solid workout, nothing boosts your brainpower like reading.  Reading increases our memory and brain function in a way that watching television does not.  And if you want to prevent cognitive decline or even Alzheimer’s disease, a great way to do that is to read on a daily basis.

Moreover, reading relaxes us in a way that television and podcasts do not.  Television and podcasts are by their very nature noisy.  Where as reading is a silent activity.  And we emotionally need quiet periods every day during which we aren’t being assaulted by the racket of the world.  It’s only in those quiet moments that our brains can truly relax. 

The good news is that developing a reading habit doesn’t have to be challenging or expensive.  The first step is to choose to read.  That means choosing reading over surfing the Internet, looking at your Facebook feed or watching television. 

The next step is to figure out what topics interest you.  I have a vast range of topics that I like to read about, from history to religion to philosophy to cozy mysteries.  The key is to find a subject that piques your interest.  And then find a well-written book about it.

Frankly, it really matters little what you choose.  There’s just as much value in reading a light romance novel as there is in reading a book about physics.  The point is to turn off the television and give your brain a real workout by reading!

With a regular reading habit, not only will you expand your knowledge, but you’ll improve your cognitive skills.  And both will help you to unlock your potential to achieve great things!

Choose A Healthy Diet

There is no getting around this fact: You are what you eat.  What you put in your body either allows your body to function well or to function poorly.  So, if you put processed foods, alcohol and nicotine into your body, your body isn’t going to function well.  And if you put vegetables, fruits, whole grains and green tea into your body, your body is going to function beautifully.

We all know this.  That isn’t news.  So, if we know that we need to have a healthy diet to operate at the highest level possible, why don’t many folks do so? 

My honest answer is that I just don’t know.  Over the years, I’ve known people who smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol to excess, and over ate.  I have no idea why they did so.  But the bottom line is that they chose to treat their bodies poorly. 

The problem with that approach is that you only get one body.  So, logically, you should treat that body extremely well.  And that means adopting a healthy diet.

Realize that when you are careful about what you put into your body, your body is able to operate at its highest level.  After all, when you have a healthy diet, you have more energy.  Your brain is more productive.  And you don’t carry around the extra weight that can prevent you from moving with ease.

So, how do we adopt a healthy diet?  The key is to learn how to cook.  Otherwise, you are stuck eating processed foods.  Once you learn how to cook, your ability to make healthy food choices expands exponentially.  You can choose to make recipes from scratch that use healthy ingredients, and you aren’t stuck eating pre-prepared foods full of preservatives.

Now, if you don’t know how to cook, don’t fear!  With the Internet, learning how to cook is as simple as doing a search on YouTube.  For example, my daughter is a top-notch vegan cook, and she learned to cook simply by finding recipes on YouTube that had an accompanying video showing exactly how to prepare each dish.  Nowadays, she is an accomplished cook. So, she no longer needs cooking videos, but when she started out, those videos provided her with terrific training! 

So, unlock your potential by adopting a healthy diet.  With a healthy diet, your body and brain will function at their highest level, and you’ll be able to accomplish more than you ever thought you could!

Become a Lifelong Learner

While traditional learning ends when we graduate from high school, college or graduate school, learning itself should never end.  In fact, if you want to reach your full potential in life, the key is to become a lifelong learner.

Now we often hear the term “lifelong learner,” but what does that really mean?  Well, it means that you work at expanding your knowledge and learning new skills every day of your life.  And the cumulative effect of your efforts will be that you’ll become an expert in whatever area you focus on.

For example, I have a friend who has spent the past 30 years devoting himself to learning the French language and to exploring French culture.  He spends part of every day either speaking in French, watching French films, or cooking French dishes.  He is a true Francophone, and his efforts have paid off!  Today, he can speak French with ease, and he is an expert in French culture.

Moreover, by becoming a lifelong learner, you can discover untapped potential that you didn’t even know you had.  For instance, during high school, you may have had a teacher who made U.S. history seem rather boring.  But nevertheless, you are fascinated by the Revolutionary War.

If you’re a lifelong learner, you won’t let one dull high school history teacher keep you from becoming an expert in U.S. history!  Instead, you can choose to immerse yourself in the period of history that fascinates you. 

So, if you’re interested in the U.S. Revolutionary War, you can take some time each day to read books about it.  You also can watch documentaries about that period.  You might even take a trip to see some Revolutionary War historical sites! 

In addition, by becoming a lifelong learner, you can learn more about where your natural skills lie.  As you explore, you might learn that you are a terrific writer.  Or, perhaps you might find that you have a knack for languages.  You might be good with your hands and discover that you have a gift for woodworking, knitting or painting. 

So, become a lifelong learner, and each day, work toward becoming more knowledgeable or skilled.  And along the way, you’ll likely discover gifts and talents that you never knew you had! 

If you are seeking to unlock your potential, remember that the key is consistency.  Choose to make small, positive efforts toward improving yourself every day.  If you do so, I can assure you that you’ll truly end up living your best life. (To read about how to develop a self-improvement plan for your best life, click here.)